


Ice Cream Night

by breeisonfire



Series: TAG prompt fics [9]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen, do i detect a hint of angst?, that is some fluffy fluff, why yes yes you do, wow would you look at that fluff right there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 08:30:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10918119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeisonfire/pseuds/breeisonfire
Summary: akireyta requested "TAG and ice cream."





	Ice Cream Night

It was a special tradition, saved for a night when John was down from Five and everyone was home. No one remembers how it started. Scott’s pretty sure it was Virgil’s idea, while Virgil blames Alan. Alan thinks he remembers Gordon suggesting it. Gordon is of the opinion that Kayo snuck the idea into one of their heads and it went from there.

Regardless, it’s an important tradition, and one they take very seriously.

Ice Cream Night.

Living on a tropical island, isolated from society and having to make supply runs instead of just running to the grocery store, ice cream was a novelty that didn’t usually last long. It was first come, first serve. But when these nights come up, someone - usually Grandma, because they once let Alan and Virgil do it, and they took two hours longer than needed and came home with empty cartons and stomach aches bad enough that Alan had puked twice.

So yeah. Grandma. Kayo usually flies her, though Kayo can’t usually be trusted alone with the ice cream either. But Grandma Tracy is a force to be reckoned with and even badass once-took-down-a-guy-with-only-a-hair-tie-and-a-broken-hand Kayo Kyrano doesn’t cross her. Ever.

The trip is easy on paper, but in reality, it’s difficult. All of them have different favorites, and they have to eat _something_ they can at least pretend is healthy beforehand. Kayo has many a time had to take one for the team to convince Grandma to buy something already-made, an exercise that tests her covert ops skills more than should be reasonable.

So, pizza, this time. Pepperoni and olives for Scott and John, veggie for Virgil and Brains, pineapple and Canadian bacon for Alan and Gordon, and Meat Lovers for Kayo and Grandma. Then, it’s onto the ice cream aisle.

Alan’s easy. Mint Chocolate Chip is his favorite. He’s very particular about the mint part. He won’t eat plain chocolate chip. He says it doesn’t taste right.

Gordon’s a Butter Pecan kinda guy. He’s been known to fight over it, if it’s what’s in the freezer. Once, he went to the store with Grandma instead of Kayo, and there was one carton left and another guy reaching for it. Gordon now has an arrest record and is no longer allowed in that store.

Virgil likes Green Tea ice cream and it is not pretentious, _thank you very much._ He just appreciates green tea and the fact that it is in ice cream form.

John’s favorite is Black Raspberry Cheesecake. He doesn’t get ice cream in orbit - it’s not practical - so when he’s planetside, they always have a carton of it in the freezer. It’s an unspoken agreement to never touch it, lest John come down and find it gone. John’s scary when he wants to be.

Scott likes Moose Tracks best. He’ll eat anything when it comes down to it (the oldest has to make some sacrifices), but when he has a choice, it’s Moose Tracks all the way.

Brains will only eat Cinnamon Bun ice cream. _Only_. He’s never explained why.

Kayo’s flavor is Turtle Cheesecake. She had it once while running an op with Lady Penelope and fell in love with it.

The few times Lady Penelope and Parker have joined, Lady Penelope eats Red Velvet. Parker’s favorite is Coffee-flavored. He can’t stand the drink, but he loves the ice cream.

Grandma Tracy sticks with good ole’ Double Chocolate Chunk. It’s been her favorite since she was a kid and it’s never let her down before. She once waxed poetic about it to the boys’ grandfather. There’s a video of it, hidden somewhere on a flash drive that she’s buried in her things to hopefully never be discovered.

(It’s Gordon who finds it, and it’s Gordon who knows and fears Grandma’s wrath enough to keep it to himself. If he happens to leave it out where MAX can find it, well, that’s an accident. Honest.)

Then, after store-hopping and on one memorable occasion after bailing a bruised Gordon out of jail, continent-hopping, it’s back to the island, where the deck is set up with a campfire in the middle, the circle of chairs far enough back from the heat that it doesn’t melt their ice cream too much. The pizza’s eaten, the sun’s going down, the stars are coming out.

They’re lucky enough that this time, it’s beautiful outside. It poured once, the storm sneaking up on them so fast they were caught outside, soaked and losing most of their ice cream. John has EOS watching for storms now, just in case.

They star gaze. John and Alan take turns pointing out constellations, though by this point, most of the others can, too. They’ll eat their ice cream. Gordon will mock Virgil’s flavor, Virgil will threaten to push him in the pool. Brains eats his too fast and Alan eats too much. Kayo sneaks a bite from everyone else’s except John, because it’s not worth it. Scott spends the night alternating between being glad everybody’s safe and being exasperated beyond belief. Grandma just smiles behind her bowl.

Their routine goes back to normal the next morning. A building is collapsing, a ship is sinking, a satellite is out of alignment. Something will happen and they’ll be busy, as usual. The leftover ice cream will get eaten in time, John will go back up on Five. Scott will get a few more grey hairs worrying about his brothers and their missions. Grandma will go back to watching her boys and wishing, just for a little bit, that they didn’t have so much on their shoulders. That they weren’t International Rescue, that she didn’t notice the way it was wearing on all of them. She’ll think to her absent son, _Did you always mean for them to end up like this?_

And then she’ll gather herself and head to the kitchen. Life goes on.


End file.
